Clues by Sam May 24, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
A1
😬
crocodile
B1
😬
bunny
C1
😬
leopard
D1
😬
fox
A2
😬
alligator
B2
😬
chicken
C2
😬
fox
D2
😬
owl
A3
😬
squirrel
B3
😬
chicken
C3
😬
sheep
D3
😬
sheep
A4
😬
dolphin
B4
😬
fish
C4
😬
fish
D4
😬
fish
A5
😬
dolphin
B5
😬
squirrel
C5
😬
squirrel
D5
😬
fish
Final Board State
This puzzle is fully solved.
All characters have been identified as innocent or criminal based on today's clues.
See how each clue leads to the final result
Skip the reasoning — 9 criminals.
Clues by Sam answer for May 24, 2026 — a Hard solved in 16 steps
Today's Clues by Sam puzzle is rated Hard and resolves with 9 criminals on a 20-cell, 4-column × 5-row grid. The criminals are Anna (A1), Emma (D1), Freya (A2), Ghani (B2), Mary (B3), Nick (C3), Pip (A4), Tom (C4) and Zach (D5); the remaining 11 suspects are innocent.
The deduction chain, in plain English
01.B5 · Will → INNOCENT, C5 · Xena → INNOCENT
Rose’s clue says the people strictly between Vince and Zach contain exactly 2 innocents. In that group, there are currently 0 known innocents, and the only people left there are Will and Xena. Since those two spots must supply all 2 innocents required by the clue, both of them have to be innocent. So Will and Xena must be innocent.
02.A1 · Anna → CRIMINAL
Xena’s clue says Anna is one of the exactly 3 criminals in column A. That directly includes Anna among the criminals in that column. So Anna must be criminal.
03.A4 · Pip → CRIMINAL
Anna’s clue directly says that Pip is one of the exactly 3 criminals above Vince. That identifies Pip’s status by itself. So Pip must be criminal.
04.A5 · Vince → INNOCENT
Anna’s clue says there are exactly 3 criminals above Vince, and that group is Anna, Freya, Logan, and Pip. Xena’s clue says there are exactly 3 criminals in column A, which is the same four people plus Vince. So the full column A is allowed the same total number of criminals as the smaller group above Vince. That means all 3 criminals in column A must already be among Anna, Freya, Logan, and Pip, leaving Vince unable to be a criminal. So Vince must be innocent.
05.B2 · Ghani → CRIMINAL
Anna says there are exactly 3 criminals above Vince, and among those people Anna and Pip are already known criminals, so A2 Freya and A3 Logan account for the remaining criminal in that group. That means among Mary's neighbors who are not above Xena, the 3 criminals are A2 Freya, A3 Logan, and Pip, since Rose is innocent. The only other person in that same Mary-neighbor group is B2 Ghani, so Ghani has to be the one supplying the remaining criminal slot there. So Ghani must be criminal.
06.C3 · Nick → CRIMINAL
Among the people above Xena, the relevant names are Hope, Nick, and Tom, and among the column C people counted by Ghani's clue, the relevant names are Hope and Tom. Ghani's clue fixes exactly 1 criminal among Hope and Tom, while Pip's clue fixes exactly 2 criminals among Hope, Nick, and Tom. The only person in the second group who is not already in the first group is Nick, so that extra criminal has to be Nick. So Nick must be criminal.
07.D5 · Zach → CRIMINAL, D2 · Ike → INNOCENT
Nick’s clues fix two different totals at once: Nick has exactly 3 criminal neighbors, and exactly 1 of those criminal neighbors is in column C, so among C2 Hope and C4 Tom exactly one is criminal. Tom also has exactly 3 criminal neighbors, and he already has 1 known criminal neighbor, leaving B3 Mary, D3 Olive, D4 Uma, and D5 Zach to supply the other 2. If Zach were innocent and Ike were criminal, then C2 Hope, B3 Mary, D3 Olive, C4 Tom, and D4 Uma would have to fill the remaining criminal spots needed by both Nick’s clue and Tom’s clue at the same time, but they cannot do that without breaking one of those exact counts. So that opposite assignment is impossible. That makes Zach criminal and Ike innocent.
08.D4 · Uma → INNOCENT
Hope’s neighbors who also neighbor Tom contain exactly 1 criminal among Mary and Olive. Nick’s neighbors that are not in column C contain exactly 2 criminals among Ghani, Ike, Mary, Olive, Rose, and Uma. The first group sits inside the second one, and the only person in the larger group who is not in the smaller group is Uma. Since the smaller group already accounts for all the criminals the larger group can still allow, Uma cannot be a criminal. So Uma is innocent.
09.C1 · Denis → INNOCENT
Uma’s clue directly says that Denis is one of the 9 innocents on the edges. That identifies Denis’s status immediately, without needing any other edge counts. So Denis must be innocent.
10.C2 · Hope → INNOCENT
Denis’s clue says his neighbors contain an odd number of innocents. Right now Denis’s neighbors have 1 known innocent, and the only unknown people there are Bunny, Emma, and Hope. At the same time, Hope’s clue fixes Hope’s neighborhood very tightly: Hope has exactly 4 criminal neighbors in total, and exactly 2 of those criminals are among Mary, Nick, and Olive. If Hope were criminal, then Bunny, Emma, Mary, and Olive would have to satisfy both clues at once, but they cannot. So Hope cannot be criminal. That makes Hope innocent.
11.C4 · Tom → CRIMINAL
Ghani’s clue says that among Nick’s neighbors, exactly three are criminals, and exactly one of those criminal neighbors is in column C. Among Nick’s neighbors in column C, Hope is already innocent, so that column-C neighbor group still needs one criminal. The only unknown person left there is Tom. So Tom must be criminal.
12.D3 · Olive → INNOCENT, B3 · Mary → CRIMINAL
Hope’s neighbors must contain exactly 4 criminals, and exactly 2 of those criminal neighbors must also neighbor Tom. In the overlap of Hope’s neighbors and Tom’s neighbors, the only people are Mary, Nick, and Olive, and Nick is already a criminal. If Olive were criminal and Mary innocent, then the remaining people touched by these clues, Bunny, Emma, Freya, and Logan, would have to satisfy Anna’s count above Vince, Zach’s count around Hope and Tom, and Uma’s count of innocents on the edge all at the same time, and that cannot be done. So that opposite assignment is impossible. That makes Olive innocent and Mary criminal.
13.B1 · Bunny → INNOCENT
Anna’s clue says that among the people above Vince, exactly 3 are criminals, and Pip is one of them. In that group, Anna and Pip are already criminals, so Freya and Logan cannot both be criminals. Hope’s clue says only one column has exactly 3 criminals. If Bunny were a criminal, then Bunny together with Ghani and Mary would make column B a column with exactly 3 criminals, while Anna’s clue is also restricting column A through Freya and Logan. That combination cannot satisfy both clues at once. So Bunny must be innocent.
14.D1 · Emma → CRIMINAL
Bunny’s clue says row 5 is the only row with exactly 3 innocents. Row 1 already has 2 known innocents, and Emma is the only person in that row not yet identified. If Emma were innocent, then row 1 would also have exactly 3 innocents, which would contradict Bunny’s clue. So Emma must be criminal.
15.A2 · Freya → CRIMINAL
Bunny’s clue says row 5 is the only row with exactly 3 innocents. Row 2 already has 2 known innocents, and Freya is the only person in that row not yet identified. If Freya were innocent, then row 2 would also have exactly 3 innocents, which would contradict the clue that only row 5 does. So Freya must be criminal.
16.A3 · Logan → INNOCENT
Anna’s clue says Pip is one of exactly 3 criminals among the people above Vince. The people above Vince are Anna, Freya, Logan, and Pip. Anna, Freya, and Pip are already criminals, so those 3 criminal spots are fully used by them. If Logan were also a criminal, there would be 4 criminals above Vince, which contradicts the clue. So Logan must be innocent.